Every human being on this earth has the same desire: to be happy. Happiness is a wish we all have in common, every human on this planet want to be happy, and everyone wishes to find eternal happiness but, what is it? Is it real? And if it does, how can be achieved?
Understanding Happiness
I have always believed in happiness, but I have never been able to experience a long-lasting happiness but only for a short period of time until I found out the true meaning of it, what gave me the clue where to look for it. The problem was that I always looked for it in a place outside of me, and this was because I had the wrong idea of what happiness really meant and where can one find it.
In my pursuit of happiness I have always asked myself different questions: What is it? Is it real? Where can I find it? Is happiness a destination? Is it a place where one can get and stay there forever? Can I find a long-lasting happiness? Is it possible to be truly happy or is it just a creation of human imagination? These are some of the questions I have always asked myself trying to find out the definition of happiness and what I realized is that my concepts about it were completely wrong.
“Happiness is a journey, not a destination; happiness is to be found along the way not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it’s too late. The time for happiness is today not tomorrow.” – Paul H. Dunn
According to the dictionary: happiness is the state of being happy, and to be happy means, to be delighted or glad over a particular thing. However, people have given different meanings to happiness, what can be happiness for some people are sorrow for others. According to how we see the world, and what are our beliefs about life, it is what will form our definition of happiness. Thus, it is very complicated to define it in one particular way, as it is something that has as meanings as people on this planet.
Therefore, does happiness exist? In my opinion, according to my life experience, I believe it is something that truly exists, making it possible to achieve it. The problem with most of us is that our happiness disappears in the blink of an eye, sometimes it disappears even before we can truly enjoy being happy. For instance, when we go on holidays and our happiness is growing every second, and suddenly, in the right moment when we are reaching that moment of absolute bliss, our happiness is snatched from us for our daily routine. Our happiness is always so short that we distrust its existence and this is due to our confused ideas of what it really means.
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley
Then, to understand more about it, let’s try to ask different questions and think about it, because as Claude Levi-Strauss said: “The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.”
I already expressed my opinion about the existence of happiness so, what is it? Where can we find it? Does it depends on life circumstances? Can happiness be something constant or it will always be interrupted? Is it based in our actions? Do we need to get something special or get to a particular place to experiment happiness? Does our past or our future influence our present happiness? Can an external factor affect our happiness?
What comes to your mind when you think about these questions? Why are you happy when you say you are happy? What is it that makes you feel happiness? And why are you sad when you say you are sad? Have you thought about it? Sometimes, it is in our own questions where we find the answers.
The key to being happy lies in understanding happiness. In my next post I will go deeply into the meaning of it. Until next time my friends!